A Brief Outlook towards Indonesia’s Freedom of the Press

Every year on May 3rd, countries from all over the world celebrate World Press Day. Although so, the real essence of the World Press Day is not limited only in the term of celebration. Indeed, the World Press Day appears as a wake-up call for every aspect in society to reflect about the importance of free press, to demand for it, and to remember the lost lives of those who dedicated themselves for the sake of delivering reliable information, rich stories, and powerfully-knitted words into people’s hands.

As the world’s third largest democratic country that upholds and claims basic human rights within every individual, press and journalists are two of the most important aspects in our nation, Indonesia. They are the backbone of our democracy. Those two components cover our rights in receiving transparency through the publication of valid news, thinking critically and freely as part of response, moreover to voice and express our stances regarding the happening issues in society. However, we can see that for the past few years, the sign of hopefulness for Indonesia’s freedom of press is not here yet to be seen. According to the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Indonesia ranks 113th out of 180 countries based on several criterias: pluralism, media independence, environment and self-censorship, legislative framework, transparency, infrastructure, and abuses. Compared to how big the power of our democracy is, this score of press freedom is not yet enough to carry the future of Indonesia's human rights.

Facts have shown how both local and foreign journalists remain trapped in threat when doing their jobs. As Jakarta-based Alliance for Independent Journalists reports, it is not rare to see cases of the military or radical groups intimidating reporters who cover humanitarian issues through verbal and physical violence. We may notice how problematic this issue is in West Papua, where journalists are liable to be arrested and prosecuted for reporting and documenting news that most likely do not portray the positive side of people in power.

As the search for truth gets more challenging every time, concerns start to arise from various groups in the society. The point is deep down our people still hold traumatism from the dark experience in the New Order era, an era where freedom of speech and democracy once felt like the most rare and luxurious asset that one could have. Today, will history repeat itself? We certainly do hope that it will not — we will happily just let it be left behind in the past.

Changes might be structural. To talk about changes is probably to talk about a nationwide reformation and other enormous things like that. Although so, it doesn't imply that there's no space for youth to take part. In a world where seeking for truth requires the sacrifice of one's right to be treated with human dignity, to be critical in responding to every information is one of the most powerful mind tools that we can have. The internet is a public forum that can be accessed by literally anybody, so be sure that we digest everything that we see carefully by always cross-checking with reliable and science-based sources. Also, the STAR (stop, think, assess, respond) approach is always a good choice to apply before we decide to say or do something. It is a simple method that will effectively avoid us from being caught up in overwhelming emotion or irrational thoughts so quickly, even before we get to logically process the news.

Immanuel Kant, one of the most influential philosophers in our human history once said "Sapere Aude!", and it means "Dare to know!". And this is exactly what our missions are: to have the courage to know, to see the light, and fight for the truth. And it's a lifelong mission that only will stop once we achieve our demand.

References

https://www.wincalendar.com/eu/World-Press-Freedom-Day
https://en.unesco.org/commemorations/worldpressfreedomday
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index#:~:text=2021%20Press%20Freedom%20Index&text=The%20Press%20Freedom%20Index%20is,records%20in%20the%20previous%20year
https://rsf.org/en/indonesia

Image credit: Tycho Atsma on Unsplash